We all have reasons for everything we do and don’t do in life.
We reason through most things when making decisions.
Sometimes we share our reasons for doing something or not doing it.
The person’s reason for anything is usually justified and acceptable at the time.
Dental Offices receive calls each day with reasons why patients have decided not to keep their appointment.
Some offices find out the reason behind the cancellation call and some offices never find out.
Finding out the reason why a patient is calling to cancel their appointment enables you to find a solution to help the patient keep their appointment.
Not knowing the patient’s cancellation reason means you cannot help them.
Offering solutions and ways for your patients to keep an appointment is so important, especially for your patient.
Many times a patient calls to cancel an appointment because they really believe they cannot keep the appointment and most Dental Office accept the cancellation without question.
What a missed opportunity to help your patient keep the appointment they need for important dental treatment and care and what a missed opportunity to keep your appointment book productive and healthy.
Most of the time the patient is not asked the reason for their appointment cancellation because the Front Office people:
- Do not know what to say to patients when they call to cancel their appointment.
- Are not confident to ask the patient the reason for the cancellation
- Don’t see the cancelled appointment as a loss of production and care for their patient.
- Are not accountable and responsible for the number of cancellations in the day.
- Do not know what solutions they can offer the patient.
To successfully handle the cancellation call your Front Office People need to know all of these steps to follow on the call.
Once the team members have these phone skills then there will be a huge reduction in cancelled appointments, resulting in better patient care and a much healthier appointment book.
Does this sound good?
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If your new patient numbers are down, or if you’ve “sensed” for a while that something’s just not working as well as it should be, as it relates to the phones… then Click here for a copy of my Free Report, right now:
Download your copy of my Free Report
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On Friday August 19 and Saturday August 20 I will be co-presenting Dental Phone Excellence in London England at Dr. David Moffet’s Ultimate Patient Experience Workshop.
Click here for details and Early Bird Registration.
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At present I have availability for four new private clients. For more information on how I can improve your Dental Office’s Phone Numbers contact me, Jayne Bandy at jayne@theDPE.com